Ricardo Muñiz (second from the right) with his family in Brooklyn
In 2009, Ricardo Muñiz was wrongly accused of assault and imprisoned in Rikers Correctional Facility for two years before being fully exonerated. Notwithstanding his innocence, Ricardo was imprisoned by the City in order to facilitate his deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) -- one of thousands of undocumented New Yorkers trapped by the City's subsidy and support of unjust federal deportation policy.
Yesterday, following years of courageous work by Make the Road New York members, Mayor Bloomberg signed into law Intro 656 to limit the City's dangerous entanglement with ICE and end the practice of detaining New Yorkers for deportation who have no criminal records. The new law will not only prevent thousands of unjust deportations but will also save tens of millions of NYC taxpayer dollars. (WNYC, Huffington Post)
Thanks to our partners in the New Sanctuary Movement, the Cardozo Immigration Law Clinic, the New York City Council, and supporters like you,Intro 656 will keep thousands of families like Ricardo's together and promote trust between police and immigrant communities.
On February 2, the New York Times published a powerful, heart-wrenching story of a young DREAMer (and MRNY member) named Antonio Alarcon.
In an op-ed, Antonio tells the story of his own family, describing how impossible economic circumstances forced his parents to abandon their home in the U.S. He speaks out against the destructive immigration policies spreading from state to state and ignorant calls from politicians for families to "self-deport."
Antonio is a brilliant young person, with a world of potential, but Congress' failure to pass the DREAM Act has left him with few options in this country.
New York has the opportunity right now to act where Congress won't, to help Antonio and hundreds of thousands of other young people to achieve a better future by giving them the means to go to college. New York State DREAM legislation is on the floor of the state legislature in Albany, waiting to move.
Sign this petition NOW to tell Governor Cuomo and the state legislature that you support the New York DREAM.
Make the Road New York is excited to announce that our 4th Annual Democracy Day is fast approaching! On October 12, 1,500 MRNY members, allies and elected officials will march across the Brooklyn Bridge to bring our agenda to City Hall. Led by MRNY’s youth members, this year’s Democracy Day marks the launch of our comprehensive Campaign for Fair and Just Policing, to ensure justice for New York City’s immigrants, workers, seniors, youth and LGBTQ community.
Last year, police officers in New York City stopped, questioned and frisked more than 500,000 people, but only 4-6 percent of those stop-and-frisks resulted in arrest. Black and Latino New Yorkers were nine times more likely than whites to be stopped.
The Campaign for Fair and Just Policing confronts what we know to be a xenophobic and dangerous model of policing that fails to sufficiently address crime in our neighborhoods while destroying relations between community residents and police officers.
On October 6, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an Executive Order that requires all New York State agencies to ensure access to all of their programmatic services through the provision of interpretation and translation services.
This Executive Order is the first of its kind in the United States, and a major commitment by New York State government to ensure equal treatment for millions of New Yorkers who are still in the process of learning English.
The Executive Order is the direct result of work done by Make the Road New York, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, the New York Immigration Coalition, Legal Services of New York City, and many other ally organizations.
